CU internal media hires

[sackman]

They started with BG Brooks, a long time well respected Denver sports columnist. Then hired Neil Woelk, another highly respected sports journalist. Now they hire Mark Johnson and - I guess - strip away any objectivity he would have had in the broadcast booth.

It's tough when we can't see the practices ourselves and have to depend on their internal media to push the message.

I'm wondering two things: one, is this a national trend? Are other schools doing the same thing? And two: are we more accepting of their narrative when it comes from journalists that have a solid reputation for objectivity?

 

[Buffnik]

They started with BG Brooks, a long time well respected Denver sports columnist. Then hired Neil Woelk, another highly respected sports journalist. Now they hire Mark Johnson and - I guess - strip away any objectivity he would have had in the broadcast booth.

It's tough when we can't see the practices ourselves and have to depend on their internal media to push the message.

I'm wondering two things: one, is this a national trend? Are other schools doing the same thing? And two: are we more accepting of their narrative when it comes from journalists that have a solid reputation for objectivity?

I don't like it.

But I do have to admit to myself that I want homer local coverage of the Buffs anyway. I don't want negativity or investigative sports journalism when it comes to the Buffs. I can't think of a thing they've put out from the internal media (or refused to report on) that I've found objectionable.

It's definitely the trend, too. And, honestly, I'm not sure I need more than what I get from CU's in-house media other than the recruiting info that they're not allowed to comment upon until a player has signed his CU paperwork.

 

[BuffHerd]

I like the idea of dedicated coverage of CU sports. I don't know what media outlet currently has the long term or dedicated resources to provide such a commitment to CU sports full time. Personally, I'll trade the homer bias for the consistent coverage.

 

[Duff Man]

Never go full Mike Klis.

 

[CUFan]

Nearly all outside coverage is trash. Poor quality and agenda-driven. I think it's a smart move, especially since they are hiring quality folks.

It's sad to see what's happened to the media in general. You can't trust anything being reported anymore.

 

[Dark Bohner]

I get the objectivity concern, but given the state of our local sports media I think this direction may be good. Local media always blows negative issues way out of proportion so a little more black and gold colored perspective is probably a good way to even out the overall perception of Buffs athletics.

 

[Scotch]

I'm ok with it. I always liked Woelk and Brooks anyway. Johnson was certainly an acquired taste, and I love that Barnett is in the booth with him. For a local radio broadcast I prefer some homerism as long as its not over the top, which I've never felt was a problem with KOA. The local press around the front range will go negative whenever they feel like it so what's the harm in having a counter to that? I do want objectivity in national or regional games where the broadcast crew is working for an outside entity that shouldn't have a dog in the fight.

 

[Shldr2Shldr]

Would love to have some outside coverage to balance the propaganda from the CU media. At this point in the offseason, I will take whatever I can get.

 

[DiggerBuffs]

It had taken a very long time to like Mark Johnson but realized a couple years ago after listening to other guys, he's actually a really good play by play. Listening to the Nubs guys to check their score, it sounds like they get Saturday off of John Deere to call games.

I will say I hate the propaganda single angle they have created since the lack of anything beyond 6 minutes of talking to the coach is the look into the program outside the walls.

Brian Howell is not overly objective when it comes to the Buffs. Kyle Ringo pushed a little more. Brian is fairly positive but he may have to with a group of reporters and editorials that gives CU a hard time.

The Post finally has a college football guy. But he splits time and the Post will jump at the negativity from CU. See a bit down this post why.

The biggest "media" challenge is BSN and their college aged set-up for Buffs and recent grads for all other media. Shap sees a Rockies team that has become very transparent and allows a ton of access and then his own school he can't even watch more than one practice.

What CU is doing hiring their own group is good to get some in-depth info. But let's be honest, the only people reading that content are CU fans and prospective students. Thus, their feel good story doesn't get shared with the casual local football fan or our enemy. I don't read CSU things unless it's info about how team looks. I don't care about their back-up QB like we will gobble up on Noyer.

What CU is doing by continuing to shelter themselves and not open up more practices to the media and providing tougher access to players is not allowing journalists outside of cubuffs.com to embrace CU.

Why do you think the Broncos are so loved? They allow access to practices daily and an unreal amount during the pre-season.

So instead of using the media, the Rise of the program and being more transparent, they have gone back to bunker mode.

I see a change when a young coach like Chev takes over this team in the next couple years. They realize sharing the word of the Buffs and building positive relationships leads to a better narrative. CU could help change the narrative by being more open.

 

[Highlander]

In CU's defense of this strategy, the Denver Post has never been more than lukewarm on the Buffaloes for 30+ years. They jump at any chance to express shock and dismay at problems that crop up while also twisting the knife when CU isn't performing particularly well on the field.

Compare this to Talib shooting himself in a Dallas nightclub (or whatever happened) where most of the coverage was "Oh, my! He might be suspended! What will that do to the Broncos defense?!?" Instead of "What kind of thugs are they allowing on the Broncos team?!? Are our children safe?!?" like they do with CU.

At some point, you decide a leopard won't change its spots and you try something else.

 

[Buffnik]

I'm ok with it. I always liked Woelk and Brooks anyway. Johnson was certainly an acquired taste, and I love that Barnett is in the booth with him. For a local radio broadcast I prefer some homerism as long as its not over the top, which I've never felt was a problem with KOA. The local press around the front range will go negative whenever they feel like it so what's the harm in having a counter to that? I do want objectivity in national or regional games where the broadcast crew is working for an outside entity that shouldn't have a dog in the fight.

That's changed a lot. For years, we've seen ESPN folks telling us what teams they're fans of and even wearing their colors on the set. I think the problem we've had with the coverage from the DP is that despite the strength of CU's academic program in journalism they've never hired any Buffs for their sports section.

 

[sackman]

Never go full Mike Klis.

I don't know what this means.

It's a fine line, for sure. Internal reporting only goes to folks who are predisposed to believe what you tell them anyway.
The BDC and DP are shells of their former selves. The Longmont Times Call, who had probably the best CU beat writer ever in Patrick Ridgell, doesn't even have an office in Longmont anymore. Print news is on life support and the family is signing the papers to pull the plug. Maybe CU's move to internal media is a way for them to provide coverage that others are too strapped to provide.
What this comes down to, though, is that the only place that will have anything close to objectivity is here. We can be pretty critical of the program, the AD, and the administration at times. It all comes from a position of wanting success for these institutions, though. Nobody here is trying to tear down the program.

Rambling post is rambling. Sorry.

 

[leftybuff]

Denver is, and probably will always be, a Donkey town. All of the media is in a race to fawn over the Donkeys. You will almost never, ever, ever, hear a negative word about the organization. Occasionally a negative word about a player, if and only if, he has done something truly horrific, and still that coverage is qualified by whether he still has gas in the tank.

Denver media is honestly a joke. It is nothing more than infotainment. Since CU is big enough to be news, but not followed strongly enough to hurt the bottom line, Sally Schrager-type sensationalist hit pieces are done regularly. You can bet CU will be castigated every time the opportunity arises. CSU? Nobody really gives a ****, so they get about as much attention as Rock Canyon HS. More often than not their coverage is of the "kitten-trapped-in-a-tree" variety.

 

[BuffLuke80]

What did Fagan do in school? She works for Espn so some kind of Journalism would be there yes, unless she did that after?

 

[Bison]

I blame the in-state media for forcing CU to go down this path. I do understand the concerns about objectivity but those hirings from B.G. Brooks to Mark Johnson is a welcome thing for me given how much negativity CU has dealt with the local media for so long. I have lost faith in the media in general these days to be objective.

 

[sackman]

Why do you think the Broncos are so loved? They allow access to practices daily and an unreal amount during the pre-season.

Without going into the rest of your post, much of which I agree with, I had to take out this particular quote and ask: do you honestly think that's why the Broncos are so popular?

 

[MtnBuff]

The sports media world has changed and changed rapidly.

Traditional newspapers are dying, local affiliate network news is no longer the force it once was, everything is targeted to specific slices of the market rather than the market as a whole.

The Post and other local newspapers like others around the country have dramatically cut back on the size of their newsgathering staffs including in sports. Local TV stations the same. If it isn't Broncos related they don't have much time for it.

The high school reporters are gone, coverage of small college sports is almost gone, and major college football is shrinking fast.

At this point if the story isn't dramatic and easy they aren't going to spend time on CU. That means that unless their is a police report and/or a crying victim they aren't likely to bother with it.

What CU is doing is the logical way to battle this. The news outlets still need content, still need to fill time and page space around their ads. The guys CU is hiring know how to fill that space with content that will get used and has a positive view for CU.

 

[sackman]

I blame the in-state media for forcing CU to go down this path. I do understand the concerns about objectivity but those hirings from B.G. Brooks to Mark Johnson is a welcome thing for me given how much negativity CU has dealt with the local media for so long. I have lost faith in the media in general these days to be objective.

I agree. It's an attempt on CU's part to control their message better. Can't blame them for that. Had the Denver media done a better job, this wouldn't be necessary. Guys like Henderson and Kizla forced their hand. So now, nobody from the Post has any access to the program at all. They get the news the program wants them to have. These are self inflicted wounds, for sure.

 

[BuffLuke80]

Don't give the ****ers the satisfaction if they don't have your back. Seems they want CU to **** up from afar. I wouldn't give them anything more than necessary.

 

[DiggerBuffs]

Without going into the rest of your post, much of which I agree with, I had to take out this particular quote and ask: do you honestly think that's why the Broncos are so popular?

Lol. Yes. That's obviously not the only reason. But it gives more warm and fuzzies than the fuel that is just waiting for a match when CU jacks up.

 

[BuffsRising]

Its worth pointing out that CU already had veto power over who KOA put in the booth for its games(when KOA was producing the broadcasts); hiring Mark Johnson has more to with The fact that KOA doesnt produce the radio broadcasts anymore, CU/Learfield does. Once MJ got let go as sports director at KOA it makes sense that the school would hire him directly.

After the way the post covered CU for the last 20 years, I wouldn't even give press credentials to anybody from that paper for the games. Let their beat writer cover cu from his mother's basement couch.

 

[Hugegroove]

Since day one when practices were closed, I've noticed that all the videos of the Buffs that show up on facebook have Johnson, Woelk, and Brooks doing interviews with coach Mac, assistant coaches, and players with an occasional short video of what happened in practice that day. I can only assume this is the new norm and will continue? Yes, objectivity and outside observation has been thrown out the window.

 

[LaserDeathHawk]

As long as they don't hire Bill Walton I'm good

 

[DBT]

I agree. It's an attempt on CU's part to control their message better. Can't blame them for that. Had the Denver media done a better job, this wouldn't be necessary. Guys like Henderson and Kizla forced their hand. So now, nobody from the Post has any access to the program at all. They get the news the program wants them to have. These are self inflicted wounds, for sure.

Which leads to more criticism. What do they have to lose if they write Kiszlaesque crappola? They no longer have accountability other than people threatening to drop them. Oh the irony in that last remark!

 

[DBT]

Its worth pointing out that CU already had veto power over who KOA put in the booth for its games(when KOA was producing the broadcasts); hiring Mark Johnson has more to with The fact that KOA doesnt produce the radio broadcasts anymore, CU/Learfield does. Once MJ got let go as sports director at KOA it makes sense that the school would hire him directly.

After the way the post covered CU for the last 20 years, I wouldn't even give press credentials to anybody from that paper for the games. Let their beat writer cover cu from his mother's basement couch.

Umm, glad you aren't the AD or SID!!

 

[MtnBuff]

Looked at the Post for the first time in a while today. They had a Buff article and a Ram article. The Buff article was Pat Rooney's BuffZone article which was almost word for word the piece that came out of CUBuffs.com.

The actual article for the sheep was from the Loveland-Times Herald by Brohard and much shorter and less positive. They also had a big fluff piece about the sheep statue.

 

[DBT]

Looked at the Post for the first time in a while today. They had a Buff article and a Ram article. The Buff article was Pat Rooney's BuffZone article which was almost word for word the piece that came out of CUBuffs.com.

The actual article for the sheep was from the Loveland-Times Herald by Brohard and much shorter and less positive. They also had a big fluff piece about the sheep statue.

The sheep statue that looks like Sunny Lubick? I didn't read it. What the hell did they mean by that?

 

[SuperiorBuff]

They started with BG Brooks, a long time well respected Denver sports columnist. Then hired Neil Woelk, another highly respected sports journalist. Now they hire Mark Johnson and - I guess - strip away any objectivity he would have had in the broadcast booth.

It's tough when we can't see the practices ourselves and have to depend on their internal media to push the message.

I'm wondering two things: one, is this a national trend? Are other schools doing the same thing? And two: are we more accepting of their narrative when it comes from journalists that have a solid reputation for objectivity?

We've been getting ****ed by the majority of the local media for years. I am actually cautiously optimistic.

 

[BUFFering]

Coming at it from a different angle, the move to limit outside media means the student-athletes do not learn how to deal with neutral (or worse) media in a low pressure environment. The Post, ESPN, and others will cover this team and not having that experience during camp feels like a lost opportunity. Additionally, that practice can't hurt for the guys who want a career in the sports media after school/playing.

 

[Tatanka™]

Did CU let B.G. Brooks go? I haven't seen anything from him for awhile and he's not listed in the Sports Information section of the staff directory along with Neill Woelk and Mark Johnson. If so, that's too bad. I like Woelk, but Brooks was also great and I liked getting more than just one perspective.